Black Pearl Tears
by Yxonomei
Summary: James wasn't dead; he was in a coma. Now he's awake and trying to relate to his 14 year old son. Snape think they're relating too well. (Important notice inside for uncut, full slash version)


Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Harry Potter Series, which solely belong to J.K. Rowling, et al, but that hasn't stopped me from writing about them.

**Note: I will not accept any flames, however, comments and criticisms are welcome. I am under the assumption that anyone reading this has a clear understanding of the difference between flames and criticisms so I don't have to explain it. Here are some reason why I don't accept flames: **1) **they generally include an attack on the author's character without regard to previous or future works that may or may not be in the same vein, ****2) not only are they childish, but they make the writer of them sound immature and not old enough to read the material contained herein, ****3) flames help neither the author nor the flamer to improve the work and, therefore, are not constructive, ****4) if something is so offensive as to elicit the impulse to flame then it is better forgotten and not dwelled upon, ****5) you waste time writing it and I waste time reading and then deleting it, **6)** it won't do you any good to point out my lack of scruples, morals, intelligence, sanity, etc., because not only don't I care, but I won't listen.**

Thank you for your kind regards and any reviews (not flames) that you will allocate to me.

**Very Important:**

Due to the concerns of a parent, the incestual portions of this story will no longer be posted at fanfiction . net. Instead, the story in its entirety (slash and all) will be posted at 

"**http :**** // adultfan  . nexcess . net / aff / story . php ? no = 12990"** (eliminate the spaces). The story posted at ff.net will concentrate, instead, on the building of the relationship between Harry and James as they struggle to adjust to the changes in their life.

From Your Sight,

Yxonomei Ayuahteotl

::Chapter One::

Little Harry James Potter watches his friends and classmates depart for their homes. The summer holidays are here and school is over. He sits on the sweeping stone steps leading to the towering doors of reinforced oak that guard the entrance to Hogwarts. He smiles and waves goodbye with all the sincerity and animation of cleverly controlled puppet. When the last child is whisked away for a summer of academic indolence, Harry slumps in such a way as to appear as if a giant, invisible hand is slowly crushing him. Or perhaps it is the burden of responsibility. 

How many fourteen year olds must bear the weight of the Messiah?

Everyone else can go home, but Harry can't. He thinks—no, he knows—it's because of the Final Trial and Cedric. He wants to laugh hysterically. He's finally free of a Dursley Summer, but at the cost of another human being's life. It might as well have been his own mouth from which the fatal words flew; his own wand from which the spell shot forth. 

So he is alone in the only place he has ever considered a home—but now he wonders if this is because of the people and not the rooms and corridors. Already the stones seem as though they are settling down for a well-earned respite from the activity of a restless multitude of children and their pranks. The foundations seem tot shift in preparation for sleep. A rocky sigh echoes subtly through the air and the tension drains from the stones. The ancient institution settles down and only the birds and insects fill the day with sound. He misses his friends and classmates with a poignancy hitherto unfelt. It feels as though he as been cast out of the world, banished for his sins and failures.

Once again he is orphaned.

"Harry?" The boy turns to find his Head of House standing behind him with a sternly compassionate look on her face. "Dumbledore would like to talk to you in his office. Today's password is 'Strawberry Laces'"

"Okay." Harry picks himself up from the stone steps and brushes the dirt off of the seat of his pants. Looking past McGonagall, he walks towards the threshold. 

"Harry…" The child pauses while passing the concerned professor. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, Professor," he tells her with a bright smile. She frowns, not fooled by his cheerful façade. His smile slowly wilts and finally fades to a weary grimace. "I'm dealing. I'll be fine, ma'am." She nods shortly; her eyes are suspiciously bright. He continues inside, but not before catching the sound of a hastily suppressed sob.

*          *          *

Swinging trainer clad feet erratically, Harry Potter sits on—or rather in, due to the quicksand like quality of the cushions—one of the large, comfortable armchairs in Headmaster Dumbledore's office. The room is a cluttered space of various magical, and the occasional muggle, paraphernalia gathered over the course of a rather prolonged lifespan. Squeezed onto every available space on the wall is an assortment of portraits featuring the sleeping, and snoring in some cases, portraits of former headmasters and headmistresses. Harry suspects their all faking slumber. Occasionally he catches one with an eye open with curiosity.

Dumbledore is nowhere in sight. Fawkes is there, though. He's looking a little worse for wear. The child wonders if he's going to combust soon or if he's just molting or something. 

"Ah, Harry, you're here," the Headmaster says jovially, blue eyes all a-twinkle. His robes are a brilliant acid green embroidered with frolicking—literally— penguins and leopards in blue and purple. Harry blinks rapidly and fights down chromatic nausea. 

"Yes, sir." The child fidgets nervously in the chair.

"Lemon drop?"

"No thank you, sir." He doesn't attempt to fool the aged man into thinking he's okay. Twinkling blue eyes see far more than then the genial face in which they are set professes. The man might play the role of the harmless old dodderer, but it is only an act and pity the fool who underestimates his benevolent smile. 

"Harry, I have some news for you and something to show you." The man's tone is gentle and grandfatherly. The boy feels repressed tears gathering. He hasn't cried yet, but Dumbledore's kindness, his comforting presence are enough to elicit a few drops. 

"Is this about Voldemort"—the name punctures the air on an exclamation laden with rage and hate—"Or…C-Cedric?" The last is the merest exhalation laced with sound. 

"Not precisely," the old wizard tells him with gentle compassion. The twinkle dims. 

If Harry had known the touch of a gentle hand during his stay at the Dursleys, he might have sought reassurance with another human being. As it, and as it was, he knows only to wrap things up so tightly his lungs begin to tear and push them deep down to sit, cancerous and malignant, in his stomach. 

"Am I going to be kicked out? Sir?" His voice is soft and as fragile as a cut crystal figurine. He looks at his battered trainers and envisions a world in them. Will he lose the only refuge he has ever known? Will it be back to the skittering spiders and too-small cupboard?

"No, child, you are not and never will, if I have any say in the matter." The boy thinks he would like a lie to soothe the agitation in his mind. He wants Dumbledore to tell him that he won't ever let them, the Ministry, his relatives or Voldemort, take him away. But that is too much to ask of the man with the white beard and many laugh lines. He isn't God. 

"So what is it?"

"First off, I would like to let you know that you don't have to return to your relatives if you wish not to." The child feels a rush of sheer pleasure suffuse his being. He is almost dizzy with the unadulterated relief. Sorrow slinks away for the moment. 

"Really?" he breathes with barely suppressed hope. The Headmaster nods solemnly, but the twinkle is nearly back full force, though tempered with something sharper. 

"Would you like—"

"Yes, please!" Dumbledore nods his acceptance and beckons Harry to stand.

"Now that that is settled, I have something I think you will be interested in seeing. This should also explain the reason for your absence from the Dursleys." The man's tone is mild, but there is the slightest inflection on the last word that swells with the man's opinion of his relatives. 

Harry is curious despite himself. He quickly scrambles out of the chair and hurries to the man's side. Dumbledore wouldn't show him anything bad. Perhaps the older wizard has something nice hidden away just for Harry. He's always thought that magic had a cure for everything, that there was nothing that magic couldn't do. Perhaps magic even has a way to strip away guilt. 

::End Chapter One::

Again if you would like the unabridged version (which has all the good angst and other such inappropriate things): 

"**http :**** // adultfan  . nexcess . net / aff / story . php ? no = 12990"**

(eliminate the spaces)

Most gracious thanks bestowed upon StarGazer for allowing me the opportunity to abridge this for the younger audiences.


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